Eco-Friendly Surfing

Having a topic that I am involved with, I have had plenty of room to apply board culture in my personal life. While reading my collection of books and articles, I noticed that a huge theme in board culture is preservation. So much of the production is based around eco friendly materials. There are all kinds of new technologies and such that are out and being advertised that are becoming substitutes for traditional board shaping. I have been riding this one shortboard by a local shaper for about a year now. Surfboards always end up with dings that ruin the water-tight aspect of the epoxy-sealed shape. Once you see a hole in your board its always very important to get out of the water right away to limit the amount of water that seeps in before you make your repair. As my board got older and I stopped keeping track and taking care of the dings I figured it was time to grab a new board. I have been in the market for about a month now. I used a board-building technique I learned, tested it out and such but that still remains a trial and error process to be completed. Still with a lack of a reliable board, a few days ago I picked up a board shaped by Firewire Surfboards. This is a board that can be considered eco-friendly for sure. Instead of an epoxy shell, Firewire’s TIMBERTEK technology consists of the basic foam core with a veneer width wrap of paulownia wood around the entire board. The thing looks beautiful. I have always been a huge fan of companies using wood as a primary material and I am happy to be a part of the eco friendly surfing community.